The journey to adulthood for a child with special health care needs or disability is filled with joys and challenges — as it is for any child — just more so. From the day the special health care need is known and onward, family members must learn new vocabulary, new techniques and procedures. They meet doctors and other health providers they may never have known even existed. They learn about and become connected to organizations, programs and people in their community whose path they had never crossed before. They even learn about laws unknown to them earlier.

Life can become more than busy as families work to get the best for all their members. As these full days unfold, our children are entering their adulthood — an adulthood that should offer them the opportunities, pleasures, and challenges available to anyone.

This booklet has been developed for families to help you prepare together for adulthood. Just as families have had to spend more than the average amount of time attending to their young child’s care, the transition to adulthood will be best accomplished if families devote extra effort and energy to that transition. This booklet has been written to help and guide you — to give you the information, ideas, tools, and resources you need along the way.

The booklet covers four major areas of adulthood:

♦Health care

♦Education

♦Employment and

♦Recreation

There is information for parents and especially for teens. Review it together and individually and keep it handy for frequent use.

Adulthood does not happen overnight, nor does preparing for adulthood. We recommend that you work together starting when your child is 14 years old.

Welcome to Transition Universe

Transition Universe provides resources and support to students, families and educators interested and involved in the Transition of Youth with Disabilities. Information has been gathered from many sources and also includes original content.

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The U.S. Department of Education is telling states to follow a new special education regulation just weeks after saying it will continue fighting the rule in court.

Michelle Diament

Blogroll

Disability.Blog
Disability.Blog, the official blog of Disability.gov, features weekly posts from subject matter experts who answer questions and address important topics for people with disabilities, their families and others.

iLive with a Disability
ILWAD.com is the first social networking platform of its kind, empowering the people with disabilities and their loved ones with the tools and resources they need to live a happy and fulfilling life. At ILWAD.com you are not defined by the limitations of

YO! Youth Organizing: Disabled and Proud
YO! connects, organizes and educates youth with disabilities! YO! gives youth leadership opportunities, social networks, resources and more. YO! is for youth with disabilities to be PROUD of who we are and what we can achieve!

Youth with Disabilities
A youthpolicy resource page on youth with disabilities, curated by WORLD ENABLED – a collaborative initiative of the Pineda Foundation for Youth.